Vasquez The Decoy

Junior guard Eric Hayes got off to quite a start last night, connecting on each of his first four shots and scoring nearly as much as the entire George Washington lineup through eight minutes of play. By the 12:20 mark in the first half, Hayes had 11 points; the Colonials had 12.

As well as Hayes shot the ball, Gary Williams also attributed Hayes's early success to the presence of Maryland's marquee attraction, Greivis Vasquez.

"I fully expected Eric, if he had the shots, to come out firing, and he did," Williams said. "You know, Greivis has played so well lately that I’m sure they were looking at him at the start of the game, and that allowed Eric some looks. I think the maturity of Greivis Vasquez is that he got Eric the ball when he was open. He didn’t hesitate. The ball moved; it got right to Eric."

Vasquez -- who finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists -- did not seem at all to mind playing a decoy role in the game's early stages.

"It makes me look good, so hopefully (Hayes) will keep shooting like that so I can get assists, get a triple-double finally," Vasquez said. "It helps everybody. Everybody always looks for me to score and they forget about a guy like Eric Hayes that can shoot. They forget about Adrian Bowie, who can drive. Landon’s out-hustling his opponent. I mean, it just helps."